D4: The Mighty Ducks: REDEMPTION
by BeppeV
Summary: The next section in the Might Ducks saga, as I see it. An epic story of their 2nd year and beyond at Eden Hall, faced with all new troubles and worries. Rated PG for occasional language and violence
1. The Ducks vs The Leopards, Year 2

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of the Mighty Ducks.

Hi all! Hope you enjoy the story, it's my first fan fiction - do post reviews, I'll find them most helpful - I hope to update soon!

D4:  
THE MIGHTY DUCKS:  
REDEMPTION  
  
CHAPTER I  
  
"Tyler, Mendoza, change it up!" yelled an anxious Coach Orion as the Eden Hall Mighty Ducks battled their way through an intensive third period. They were playing the North Division Leopards in the final game of the State Championship, in their second year at Eden Hall. They had played consistently throughout the year, and all they needed was a single point to win the trophy. Their opponents, on the other hand, were also a powerful team and were one point behind the Ducks in the league table at 2nd – but they needed to win to take home the title.  
Things stood at 3-1 to the Ducks, with goals from Dwayne Robertson, Charlie Conway and Fulton Reed. Just over 5 minutes remained on the clock. The Leopards, although battling hard, were tiring, and another Ducks goal looked almost inevitable.  
"Quack, quack, quack, quack!" chanted an enormously excited crowd. There were few supporters who weren't cheering for the Ducks. Either that or they just did not dare show themselves with so many of the opposition's fans present. It was a hostile crowd, and harsh comments were occasionally shouted at the Leopards team.  
Guy Germaine charged down the left flank and slid in a swift pass to Luis Mendoza who was speeding down the centre. He received the pass and controlled it well, before setting up to shoot. Just as he swung back to hit the puck, he felt a slight push from behind, which put him off the target and sent him crashing into the goalie, the puck not being struck.  
He got straight back up and raced over to where the referee was having a word with the pusher. Luis pulled him around and gave him a shove, looking at him with hatred in his eyes. He had stopped Luis from scoring that shot. Luis was about to start swearing at him but the referee interrupted. "Alright son, calm it down." Luis heard the ref but his attention was still focused on the player. "I-I'm sorry man," the player said, meaning it, and holding out his hand to shake, in a most friendly and respectful way. It was not a good idea to mess with the Ducks these days. "Get away from me man!" Luis was not having any of it and just as the player turned to walk away he advanced to push him again, but was stopped by a now impatient referee.  
"Right, in the box, come on." He took a furious Mendoza over to the penalty box. "Number 22, two minutes" he told a fellow match official.  
"Boo!" chanted the crowd, and insults were blasted at the Leopards player as he tried to carry on with the game.  
"Time out! Time out!" shouted the Leopards coach, and play was stopped as the Leopards raced over to hear what their manager had to say. The Ducks made their way over to Coach Orion.  
"Alright team, you're holding your ground out there, good playing. Mendoza made a stupid move but we can't do anything about that now. We're a man down so don't loose your concentration here. Their coach is probably gearing them for a major attack now that we're one down, so watch out. Alright, let's win it!"  
The five players remaining, Julie Gaffney, Charlie Conway, Russ Tyler, Fulton Reed and Guy Germaine all gathered in their own half momentarily.  
"Alright guys, we saw what they did to Luis, now let's show them who we are." Said Guy.  
"That cup belongs to us" Russ said, "these dudes aren't taking anything of ours."  
"We're the best, the BEST. Now let's end this." Charlie told them, a look of hybrid determination on his face.  
The crowd continued to cheer the Ducks on, and as the last four minutes were played, the leopards were receiving a really physical, if not also mental, thrashing.  
With to minutes to go, Mendoza leaped out of the penalty box, and joined his team who had just given away possession by sloppily allowing a pass to be intercepted.  
The Leopards charged down the rink and the Ducks, not willing to give up the title, headed to intercept them. The Leopards' number 9 slid his way past Charlie with a little too much ease – although not intentionally, Charlie swiped his stick in a rage and it thumped the Leopards player on the back of his leg. He came crashing down, and the referee was promptly on the scene.  
"That'll be two minutes," he immediately told Charlie. "Oh come on, ref!" Charlie was angry, both with himself, for stupidly hitting the player, but also with the ref, who had just brought them a man down with a fraction of the game left.  
The other Ducks cried out in protest, as did the crowd, and Guy, feeling the same anger as his teammate, foolishly shouted foul abuse at the referee, and was promptly ordered to the box with Charlie.  
The Ducks cried out at Guy's stupid action of rage, but they could do nothing about it – now TWO men down and the game almost over, they re- aligned themselves for the final battle. The Ducks realised that this was almost a replay of what had happened when they played the Varsity in that they had to play the end of the game two men down, but things were looking _real _shaky now, for some reason.  
Ted Orion was extremely nervous but did not want to yell at the team for their lousy attitude in fear of just giving them an even more negative approach, and that was not needed so late in the game at all. He kept silent and watched, hopeful.  
Play resumed, with two minutes and ten seconds to go. The Leopards, who had received a lot of reassurance from their coach when play had been stopped just before this incident, charged again down the ice and this time had no problem getting within close range of the goal. Despite all the Ducks' efforts to prevent it, the Leopards managed to take a shot at goal and Julie Gaffney had no chance of stopping the soaring puck, which went in and the scoreboard changed to 3-2.  
59, 58, 57...The clock counted down the last minute and play began again, with the Leopards immediately winning possession of the puck. The crowd let out a gasp of fear for what the opposition could do, and the Leopards passed the puck around, slowly advancing towards the Ducks' goal. There were cries of reassurance from the benched Leopards, and their number 30 passed the puck to number 11 waiting in the middle, who was unmarked due to the Ducks' poor organisation. A blinding shot forced the puck right past Gaffney once more and levelled things at 3-3, with no more than 30 seconds to go.  
The crowd were all on their feet in support for the Ducks and as play started for the final time, Charlie and Guy leapt out of the penalty box, their two minutes up. Coach Orion could not believe how sloppy the Ducks were playing but realised there was no tactic they could adopt that could make a change in thirty seconds, so continued to watch, as a trickle of sweat fell from his forehead.  
The Ducks managed to win possession quickly and prepared a final onslaught. Charlie stormed down the ice with the puck and passed to Guy on the right wing. After moving into an ideal shooting position, he called for a pass back so he could shoot. Guy sent the puck towards him and he prepared to thwack it right in. Almost as it reached him however, it was intercepted by a speeding Leopards play from behind their goal, and all of a sudden the tables were turned. The Ducks desperately headed back to their goal and desperately tried to win back possession, but the Leopards always seemed to be one move ahead and with a few seconds left, their number 9 got a pass on the left just by the goal. Gaffney, thinking the passer would shoot, focused her attention too much on him and never even caught sight of the number 9, who tapped it in as soon as he could reach it.  
"Weeeeeeeeeooooooow!" The scoring noise sounded and the red light came on to signal 3-4 to the Leopards.  
Charlie looked at the scoreboard. 00.00. Time was up. They had lost. All they needed was a draw, and they LOST. That was it. All over. The best team in the league and they_ lost_.  
The Leopards players all shouted and sang in celebration and hugged each other in happiness. Charlie raised his heavy face and looked at them cry out in glory. Just like when the Ducks won the Peewee league. They beat the best team, the favourites. No change tonight, except that he was on the 'favourite' team, the losing team. He dropped his tired head.  
The Leopards were so ecstatic they could not withhold their occasional shouts of victory as they shook hands with a lifeless Ducks team. The crowd was quiet, and began to leave, slowly.  
Charlie looked at his coach. The look back was not one of anger. More one of pure disappointment. Charlie reflected on the game in his mind. What had happened to the Ducks? _Since when were we so sloppy?_ He made his way off the ice and to the changing room. _Next season isn't going to pretty,_ he thought.  
  
END OF CHAPTER I, TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Year 3 begins

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any part of the Mighty Ducks.  
  
Thank you all so much for your helpful reviews, I'm glad you're enjoying the story (sorry 'banks'gurl', I'll try to have more Banksy in it from now on!) Keep up the reviews, and I give me guidance, suggestions, etc. if you think I need them!  
  
CHAPTER II  
  
Over the summer The Mighty Ducks tried to forget what happened in their last league game. They went out together to have fun and after a few weeks their moods brightened up now that they had gotten hockey off their minds. They even paid a visit to the baseball park one day and tried their hand at that sport, Fulton finding out a hockey puck wasn't the only thing he could send flying at light speed.  
But the bad times always return, and September soon rolled on for the Ducks. They were all very anxious about returning to school, as they had not seen Coach Orion since the end of the last game, where they left as soon as possible, and he did not return to the changing room to debrief them on the game. Not even 'captain' Charlie, whose trust in his coach was at its best before the game, had any desire to speak with him.  
But one person the Ducks had not seen for over a year now was the man who made them who they were – Gordon Bombay seemed to vanish off the face of the Earth to them. They thought he was way too engrossed in his 'Junior Goodwill Games' job – they remembered how the sponsorship corrupted him when they played there, so the same had probably happened now.  
But Charlie did not forget his old coach. Even though the Ducks joked about 'the return of Captain Blood', he knew Bombay could not possibly have succumbed to something like that again – he remembered the very words – "I'm back. BELIEVE me." So that couldn't have happened. Not again.  
Charlie had been keeping good contact with Bombay up until a few months before that final league game, where they phoned each other less and less frequently and then it just stopped. He wondered whether or not Bombay heard about the game. He was expected back in Minnesota for the summer but did not turn up. Was that why?  
  
School began on a warm autumn's day, and Eden Hall was at its busiest ever, with a whole new JV team brought in for their first year. The Ducks, now starting their third year, were high up in the school so were respected by most of the students by now.  
The academic day progressed nicely, but them came 4 o' clock and a dismal mood hit the air – the first practice of the new season.  
The Ducks made their way cautiously to the school rink and changed into their gear. Nobody had seen Coach Orion for the whole day, and he was not waiting for them in the changing room as he usually did.  
After waiting for his arrival for almost an hour, the Ducks decided to find out why he wasn't there. Charlie went to find Dean Buckley to see what was up.  
"I'm afraid Ted hasn't been in all day, son." The principal told him. "He didn't call in sick or anything. Last I saw of him in person was at your last game back in June."  
When Charlie returned and told the team, everyone was totally bewildered. They had no idea where he could be.  
"He's left us for sure now." Averman said.  
"Hey Julie, you know what that means!" said Goldberg in an excited way, "I get my fair share between the pipes again!" He looked very happy with himself. "Sorry, cat lady!"  
"Shut up, Goldberg." Julie 'The Cat' replied in a more serious manner. And judging by the looks on the Ducks faces, they were with her on that. Goldberg just looked away in defeat.  
"Alright, so what do we do now?" asked Guy. "No coach, bad hockey reputation with other teams, no more trophy, hell, we don't even have OUR full team here!"  
The Ducks followed Guy's eyes to where a set of equipment was laid out but no one there to occupy it. Dwayne, who was sitting next to the kit, looked on the back of the shirt. Number 99.  
"Where's Banks?" Guy continued. "Anyone seen him today?"  
The Ducks were surprised as they looked around to see no-one had seen or heard from Adam all day.  
Then Kenny blurted out "oh hang on, I saw him in, what was it, my history class just before lunch."  
"That's it?" asked Charlie, the captain slightly worried.  
"Yeah. 45-minute history class, then I guess he must have just left. Ken seemed less worried than some of the Ducks who had known Adam longer.  
Connie tried to ring him on his mobile, but it was off.  
"Ah don't worry about it," Goldberg started again, "just thinks he's too good for us! He'll be back when he realises we could wipe the floor with him any day!"  
"Cake eater!" Russ commented. The team laughed and decided to just practice by themselves. They did a few drills and had a mini game at the end. They left the changing rooms contented – the hockey had done them good.  
Charlie, however, was more than a bit concerned. First Bombay stops calling, then Orion disappears, and now the Ducks top scorer, the person who took his game probably more serious than anyone, had seemingly forgotten about practice. Banks was definitely not the kind of person to do that.  
When Charlie got home he called all three people but could not get through to one of them. "I don't believe it." he said with a sigh. What was up with Banks? Why hadn't Orion said anything about leaving them? And maybe Bombay HAD finally forgotten about the Ducks. All these problems and yet there was only a week until their first game of the season... 


	3. In Charlie's room

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any part of the Mighty Ducks, unfortunately. Oh well.  
  
Glad to see you guys are liking the story! I've just started my GCSEs (WAHH!) so you might not see an update for a while. This chapter is a little short/dull but I've got a lot of (hopefully) interesting plot turns coming! Your reviews are great, don't stop posting them! Thanks a lot!  
  
Chapter III  
  
Charlie Conway huffed as he made his way through his Maths homework. He had enough problems as it is, and on top of that he's got two solid hours of homework a night. He checked the large clock above his desk, which read five past seven. The days are sure getting shorter, he though – it was already dark outside.  
Suddenly his mobile phone rang which alerted him out of his dreary schoolwork state. He cleared his throat and grabbed the phone, checking to see who it was. Startled, he pressed the 'pickup' key and promptly exclaimed "Banks?"  
The voice at the other end was a little slow to reply, but eventually did so.  
"Charlie. Listen I'm sorry about practice today, something came up. Was Orion pissed off?"  
Charlie knew Adam as the type to worry himself up about missing hockey practice as he took his game so seriously. "Orion wasn't even there." He responded. "I spoke to Buckley, he doesn't know where he is either. What was the problem?"  
"My mum called me out, family issue. Don't worry yourself over it."  
"If something's wrong you know you can talk to –"  
"It's nothing, okay? Can we just leave it at that?" Banks interrupted, sounding a little frustrated.  
"Okay, relax man, if you don't wanna go into it, I understand." Charlie sounded very supportive, typical of someone of his captain status.  
"What about Orion? Where could he be then?" Adam changed the subject.  
"You got me." Charlie replied, shrugging. "All I know is if we don't get ourselves sorted out soon we could be in for more disappointments than we bargained for."  
"What are you gonna do?"  
"Well I'll give it another day or two. We could be worrying over nothing here. If he isn't back by Friday I guess we'll have to have someone else as a stand-in for a while, until they can track him down."  
"That sucks." Adam said dismally.  
"Damn right it does." Charlie sighed. "Every time we get a new coach everyone just ends up annoyed with the guy."  
"You mean YOU end up annoyed!" Adam remarked with a sneer.  
"Oh shut up Banks!" Charlie quickly responded, but could not come back with anything, so conceded the argument.  
"Ha ha." Adam laughed momentarily at Charlie's silence. "If you've got nothing to say then don't bring it up in the first place!"  
Charlie smiled. "Whatever, Banksie."  
"I gotta go, see you at school."  
"Later." Banks hung up leaving Charlie wondering whether or not he caught that last word.  
Ah, he's a good guy, Charlie thought to himself. He took a look at his mini desk calendar, and especially towards next Thursday, the first game of the season. Their opponents were the Ice Bats. Stupid name for a team, thought Charlie as he grinned. But the Ducks out-quacked them 5-1 last season so it should be a confident win, regardless of this shaky school start.  
Charlie's eyes drifted to a photo frame next to the calendar in which was a photo of him and his old coach Bombay together after their victory over The Hawks back in Pee Wee. He looked admiringly at the photo for a while remembering the good times, and then recalled how he had lost contact with his coach a few weeks before the leopards game last season. He was unhappy with this, as he really did miss his coach a lot, much more than any of the other guys, he thought anyway. He decided to give him a call at the weekend when he wasn't so wrapped up in schoolwork, so they could have a long chat and bring each other 'up to date' on what was going on. Charlie hoped Bombay had already heard about the Leopards game, otherwise he'd have to tell him, and when they last spoke Charlie was confident, over confident, that The Ducks would win, so to explain how they had stupidly lost wouldn't be an easy task.  
He sat in thought for a few moments more then continued with his homework. 


End file.
